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Driver Talk

• European GP Friday Driver Quotes

  Renault

  Fernando Alonso - P2 : 1st 1:39.404 - P1 : 9th 1:43.345

  "It was a positive day for us with some good laps and the car performed well right from the start of the first session. We worked on the set-up throughout the day and now we’re pretty much happy with what we have so I think we are in good shape for the rest of the weekend.

  The incident with Nick Heidfeld this afternoon was a normal incident that can happen during racing or free practice. For tomorrow, we will try our best to get on the front row of the grid with the objective of scoring points on Sunday."

  Romain Grosjean - P2 : 13th - 1:40.787 - P1 : 17th 1:44.356

  "The day has gone pretty well. Your first time in a new car is always tricky, but I did my best and having Fernando next to me meant I could see how he approached the sessions and that helped me a lot. So I think today I have made good progress and tomorrow I will aim to continue in the same way."

  Brawn GP

  Jenson Button - P2 : 13th 1:40.178 - P1 : 4th 1:43.074

  "We’ve had a reasonably good first day of practice and it’s encouraging to see that the car seems to be on the pace again. The focus of our programme was on set-up checks and back-to-back evaluations to confirm that the work done back at the factory after our shutdown was in the right direction. There is still some work needed on the set-up before qualifying as I’m not completely happy with the balance but all in all the pace of the car seems reasonably good."

  Rubens Barrichello - P2 : 7th 1:40.209 - P1 : 1st 1:42.460

  "It feels great to be back to what seems to be a competitive level of pace. The two practice sessions today went well with a lot of work achieved on both sides of the garage. I’m pretty happy with the data that we collected and with the way that the car developed over the course of the day. If we can continue in this direction then it should be a good weekend."

  Williams

  Nico Rosberg - P2 : 3rd 1:40.385 - P1 : 14th 1:43.746

  "I had a difficult start in the morning because the tyres grained straightaway. I was then left with a grained set for the remainder of the session which meant I didn't learn much at all. The afternoon was much better as we managed a good tyre test so we now have much more information for Sunday.

  We also made some positive set-up changes and have a good handle on which way to go with the car. In general, it was ok today. Performance-wise, we are not quite where we want to be so we have some further analysis to do ahead of tomorrow, but that should help us improve. We will wait and see."

  Kazuki Nakajima - P2 : 5th 1:40.503 - P1 : 7th 1:43.225

  "I think it was a good day for us. We seem to have good long run pace and, even on the new tyres, our times were decent on the short runs as well. The track was fairly green at the start of the day, but improved throughout the two sessions and will continue to do so for tomorrow's qualifying, which I'm really looking forward to."

  Force India

  Adrian Sutil - P2 : 6th 1:40.596 - P1 : 6th 1:43.209

  "It was a good day for us today. Sixth place is looking OK and I hope we're now comfortably running at a Q2 pace. It's very encouraging and I'm looking forward to getting out again tomorrow. We had a few small niggles on the car so we couldn't run as much as we would have liked in the two sessions, but ultimately the balance was good.

  We did the tyre work as usual and although it was difficult at the start we understood the behaviour much more by the end of the second session. I don't think it will be a problem in the race as we used a similar tyre in Bahrain and didn't have any major issues on race day."

  Giancarlo Fisichella - P2 : 8th 1:40.681 - P1 : 16th 1:44.126

  "I could set a reasonable lap time at the end of FP2 this afternoon. I was struggling this morning with the rear tyre graining but it looks better on the soft tyres for a single lap. We made a few changes for the afternoon and I'm confident we are going in the right direction. I can feel the package is a step forward but it's quite tight for positions at the moment so we'll see for tomorrow. I'm feeling quite good about it."

  BMW Sauber

  Robert Kubica - P2 : 7th 1:40.643 - P1 : 12th 1:43.419

  "We brought some new components to Valencia and tested these in both sessions. In the afternoon we concentrated on evaluating the tyre compounds on long runs. For me it was a Friday without problems.

  The grip on the track is quite good and we were able to go at quite a good pace. However, we still face the same problems with the car we have had since the beginning of the season."

  Nick Heidfeld - P2 : 17th 1:41.350 - P1 : 15th 1:44.040

  "In the beginning of the second session it went quite well. Then with the softer tyres the timing wasn't ideal as I got stuck in traffic.

  When Fernando Alonso crashed into me I had an early end to the session. Such a crash is really unnecessary during free practice. I saw him in the rear view mirror locking up his wheels and tried to open the door for him, but he went straight into me and I almost rolled."

  Red Bull

  Sebastian Vettel - P2 : 9th 1:40.723 - P1 : 5th 1:43.088

  "Today seemed to be okay, there were no problems so we had a smooth Friday. I think we are more or less in the pack, but Fernando was very quick towards the end of the second session, which was a surprise. We need to improve for tomorrow, so we will look at our day carefully and see where we were lacking, compared to the others."

  Mark Webber - P2 : 14th 1:40.956 - P1 : 8th 1:43.243

  "We did a lot of laps today. We’ve got some good stuff to go through tonight and we did the tyre comparison, which was pretty straightforward. We’ve got some work to do this evening - this track is a little like Bahrain with walls!"

  McLaren

  Heikki Kovalainen - P2 : 10th 1:40.738 - P1 : 2nd 1:42.636

  "I am quite satisfied with my day's running. We ran exactly the programme that we'd planned and the car feels pretty good. For me, this has been a much better start to my weekend than in Hungary and I feel like we're in good shape. The pace at the front is very close, but I think we're in the hunt. We now go into tomorrow fully focused on getting a good result."

  Lewis Hamilton - P2 : 20th 1:43.214 - P1 : 3rd 1:42.654

  "I touched the wall, but didn't even really feel the impact," Lewis later admitted. "I only grazed the front wing - but, unfortunately, it couldn't be repaired as we didn't have a spare one. Hopefully, we can get a new one for tomorrow, or else we'll have to make some changes - we don't have lots of these wings available.

  I didn't feel too happy with the car this morning, but the changes we made between the sessions were very positive. On my last lap, I was six tenths up and it was already looking quite good, so I feel positive for Saturday. It's a shame we missed out on so much track-time, but I still think we'll be okay tomorrow - that time can always be regained."

  Ferrari

  Kimi Raikkonen - P2 : 11th 1:40.739 - P1 : 10th 1:43.384

  "It was a positive day. I am happy with the handling of the car and the performance of both types of tyre we have here from Bridgestone. There’s no point in looking at the time sheet, because as usual on a Friday, it doesn’t tell us much.

  The first session was rather difficult as the track was very dirty and slippery, but in the second one the situation was much better. I think a podium finish is still a realistic target for us, even if a lot will depend on where we qualify."

  Luca Badoer - P2 : 18th 1:42.017 - P1 : 20th 1:45.840

  "I am happy with the way things went today. I expected a difficult day and so it was. It was vital that I did not make any serious mistakes so that I could get through the programme we had established. Now we can begin to work on the car set-up to try and adapt it to my driving style.

  The team has not set me any specific goal for this weekend and I am pleased about that consideration because it is important I return to having full confidence in the car and with the world of the Grand Prix weekend. I am also grateful to Michael who wanted to be here this weekend. It is important for me to be able to count on his support, especially from the human point of view and of course, also in terms of technical matters."

  Toyota

  Jarno Trulli - P2 : 12th 1:40.770 - P1 : 18th 1:44.638

  "First of all it is very nice to be back in the car after a long summer break. I am also pleased to be here in the good weather and at a nice track.

  Basically today was a normal Friday for us without any exceptional situations. Everything went smoothly and we had no troubles so we were able to evaluate the tyres and the set-ups to make sure we are prepared for the rest of the weekend. We still have some work to do to make the most of our car but it is difficult to see a true picture of where stand after practice as you never know exactly what programmes other teams are working on. The car feels okay but we will work to get more performance from it."

  Timo Glock - P2 : 15th 1:40.985 - P1 : 19th 1:44.732

  "That was a pretty good day for me overall. The car feels quite positive and balanced which is a promising start to the weekend and we successfully ran through our whole programme. We planned a lot of work today but there were no technical issues and the guys all did a good job so now we have a lot of data to look at overnight. The task now is to fine-tune the car for tomorrow and the race; hopefully we can be strong. It's hard to predict what the order is at the moment because the lap times are close but we will do our best."

  Toro Rosso

  Sebastien Buemi - P2 : 16th 1:41.156 - P1 : 11th 1:43.389

  "It was really hot today in the cockpit, especially as we were doing long runs in preparation for the race. The track was very dirty and green at first but it improved continuously, especially in the final ten minutes of the last session, so you had to be out on track at that moment, if you wanted a good lap time.

  We've got a new front wing here and it seems to bring the benefits we expected, which is positive. Now, as always we need to analyse the day's data to see how we can improve for tomorrow. I am quite confident we can have a good weekend."

  Jaime Alguersuari - P2 : 19th 1:42.089 - P1 : 13th 1:43.637

  "The heat was an important factor for me today, as I have not had that much time in a Formula 1 car yet and the high temperatures made things worse from that point of view.

  The day's work went quite well and we made good progress, even if we went a bit far on set-up changes in the morning, which meant that as track conditions changed in the afternoon, our performance didn't really get better. We need to improve the car and I need to drive better on the Option tyre. Not a bad first day overall."

  • Date: 5:51pm Fri, 21^st August 2009
  • By: Richard
  • Section: Driver Talk